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9 including 3 govt officials arrested in Gauhati University mark sheet scam
Nine persons, including three government servants, arrested in Gauhati University mark sheet scam. Chief Minister orders investigation. Officials say more arrests possible.
Silchar: The Crime Investigation Department (CID), Assam and police arrested nine persons including three government servants for their alleged involvement in the Gauhati University mark sheet scam that surfaced recently.
The matter was raised by the Postgraduate Students’ Union of Gauhati University on Thursday and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also expressed concern while talking to the media during his visit to Barpeta on June 27.
The students claimed that a racket is active in Gauhati University and they increase the marks during marksheet evaluation in exchange for a big amount of money.
“For increasing marks in one paper, they demand ₹16,000 and for all the papers in a semester, the rate is ₹100,000,” the students said.
The students said that employees of various departments of the university are involved in the scam.
“They have their agents in the university and those agents reach out to the students with proposals of marks. For higher marks, the rates are higher,” students added.
The chief minister on June 27 asked the education department and police to investigate the matter and later CID was given responsibility for the investigation.
CID with the help of the university authorities identified several individuals involved in the alleged scam. They conducted raids in Guwahati, Barpeta, Dhubri and some other areas in the last two days, they arrested nine accused till Saturday evening, officials said.
Police said that arrested individuals have been identified as Azizul Haque, Krishan Krishnamurti, Ismail Hussain, Alomgir Khan, Moinul Haque, Hamezuddin, Abul Baser, Aminul Islam, and Shivtosh Mahato.
Krishan Krishnamurti is a Gauhati University employee, Shivtosh Mahato works at Dhubri Law College while Aminul Islam is a librarian at a college in Barpeta, according to the police.
The CID officials said that they are investigating the matter further and the number of arrests may increase. They said that they have collected adequate evidence and the arrested persons are going through interrogations.
The vice-chancellor of Gauhati University, Pratap Jyoti Handique said that an employee of the Integrated University Management System (IUMS) is the mastermind behind the alleged scam.
He said that the matter was first noticed on June 3 in Barpeta and an internal investigation began immediately after that.
“The matter was limited to Barpeta initially and we involved police in the investigation. Now some fresh sides are getting exposed and police have arrested some accused with adequate proof. We are cooperating with the police in the investigation,” he said.
